The Locals Lost and the Machines Got Their Electricity

The township board said no.

Not in some grand philosophical way. Just plain, everyday “we don’t want your goddamn 21 million square feet of concrete and humming servers on our farmland.”

Saline Township, Michigan. Population around three thousand. The kind of place where folks still notice when the light at the end of the road stays red too long.

They voted it down. Planning commission too. Twice.

Then the developer — a billionaire’s outfit called Related Digital, bankrolled by Steven Roth — filed suit. Threatened to drain the little legal war chest the township had. Mentioned they could just partner with the University of Michigan and steamroll the zoning laws anyway.